Post-paid, single click payments

ABSTRACT

A deferred payment authorization system that allows users to exercise an instant purchase, deferred payment option for online payment without providing payment information. multiple transaction costs for frequent or recurring purchases can be reduced to a single transaction that can be processed offline at the user&#39;s convenience, particularly for small, online purchases made on a frequent or reoccurring basis.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of and claims priority to U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 13/344,455, filed Jan. 5, 2012 and entitled“Post-Paid, Single Click Payments,” which claims priority to U.S.Provisional Patent Application No. 61/535,466, filed Sep. 16, 2011 andentitled “Post-Paid, Single Click Payments.” The entire contents of eachof the above-identified priority applications are hereby fullyincorporated herein by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates generally to a system for purchasing aproduct with a deferred payment option, and more particularly to methodsand systems that reduce multiple transaction costs, especially for smallonline purchases made on a frequent or reoccurring basis, to a singleoffline purchase transaction.

BACKGROUND

Consumers purchase an increasing amount of products online, and anincreasing amount of these products constitute low-cost items purchasedon a frequent or reoccurring basis. For example, over the course of theday, a user may purchase multiple sources of content, such as a newringtone for their mobile phone, new songs and videos, subscribe to oraccess news or magazine articles, and purchase virtual goods in a socialnetwork or other online gaming environments. For each item purchased,the user must first provide payment information, either at the time ofpurchase or by having previously submitted and stored the paymentinformation with each content provider. The purchase information mustfirst be processed and approved before the user can access the purchaseditem. Currently, users cannot enjoy a true one-click purchasing optionacross multiple online platforms. Accordingly, there is a need in theart for methods and systems that allow users to quickly access content,while reducing the multiple associated transaction costs to fewer, andperhaps one, purchase transaction that can be made at the user'sconvenience.

SUMMARY

In certain exemplary aspects, a method of authorizing instant purchaseswithout payment information includes receiving a request for instantpurchase approval from a user and authorizing instant purchase approvalbased on the user's prior account activity. The user's prior accountactivity may include a length of time the user has maintained an open oractive account. The user's prior account activity also may be based onthe user's prior activity, payment history, use of associated onlineservices, or other suitable information allowing an estimate of theuser's likelihood to pay for the transaction. For example, the systemsand methods may be integrated with other online services, such as email,cloud-computing services, electronic payment services, and socialnetworking or gaming services. The user's prior activity on theseassociated services may be used as a basis for approving the instantpurchase, deferred payment option of the present invention. Onceapproved, the user is able to immediately access and utilize thepurchased content, allowing the user to make multiple purchases withoutprocessing payment information for each purchase. The user may thensubmit a single payment for each purchase at a later date and at theirconvenience. In certain exemplary embodiments, the user's account mayhave an account balance or time limit on outstanding payments that mustbe paid current before additional instant purchases can be authorized.

These and other aspects, objects, features, and advantages of theexemplary embodiments will become apparent to those having ordinaryskill in the art upon consideration of the following detaileddescription of illustrated exemplary embodiments, which include the bestmode of carrying out the invention as presently perceived.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram depicting a deferred payment system accordingto an exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a block flow diagram depicting a method for processing adeferred payment request according to an exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a block flow diagram depicting a method for obtaining deferredpayment from a user according to an exemplary embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS

Overview

The methods and systems described herein can enable consumers andmerchants to reduce the transaction costs associated with commonpurchases, some of which may be made on a frequent or reoccurring basis.The systems and methods can reduce the transaction costs associated withfrequent or regular small-value online purchases, such as the purchaseof music, ring tones, newspaper and magazine articles or issues, books,television shows, movies, and virtual goods associated with socialnetwork games or other online gaming applications. However, the instantpurchase, deferred payment option of the present invention is notnecessarily limited by dollar amount. A user registers with the systemof the present invention and an online record is created. The onlinerecord is associated with a purchase history of the user. Onceregistered, the user may purchase items through the system's instantpurchase, deferred payment option. The system interfaces with onlinestores and presents to the user the ability to elect the instantpurchase, deferred payment option when making a purchase. Once approved,the user is free to access and use the purchased content without paymentand without further processing of payment information. The user isnotified of their outstanding balance and allowed to make paymentoffline at the user's convenience.

In certain exemplary embodiments, the user may be required to haveestablished a certain number of purchases using standard payment optionsor otherwise maintained an active account for a defined time period toutilize the instant purchase, deferred payment option of the presentinvention. Alternatively, or in addition to requiring a certain level ofprevious account activity or maturity, the system also may limit thebalance that may be accrued through the instant purchase, deferredpayment option before payment is required. However, unlike other paymentoptions, payment information does not have to be presented, processed,or otherwise maintained with an online store. The system of the presentinvention may be integrated with other online systems providing suchservices as email, cloud computing, electronic payments, socialnetworking, or other online services. Accordingly, the present inventionmay utilize the user's activity associated with these other integratedservices as a basis for determining whether a user qualifies for theinstant purchase, deferred payment option provided by the presentinvention.

An exemplary deferred payment system may comprise an instant purchasemodule, a deferred payment module 132, and a registered user index. Theinstant purchase module communicates with online stores and generates auser interface that allows a user to select the instant purchase,deferred payment option when purchasing products online. The userinterface may be a control button with which the user can select theinstant purchase, deferred payment option. The instant purchase modulereceives requests for instant purchases and verifies if thecorresponding user is a registered user by referencing the registereduser index. If a user is not registered, the instant purchase modulerequests and receives a user's registration information. Userregistration information is stored in the registered user index whichfurther maintains the balance associated with each user's account and apurchase history. The instant purchase module verifies, based on theuser's record, whether an instant purchase with deferred payment may beapproved and communicates this determination to the user. If approved,the deferred payment module 132 handles instant payment with themerchant on behalf of the user and creates a transaction record in theuser's account. The deferred payment module 132 generates a notice foreach user updating the user on the outstanding balance as purchases aremade. The deferred payment module 132 further generates a user interfacewhere users can enter payment information to pay outstanding balances asrequired. The deferred payment module 132 may further interface withbanking or other payment processing systems to process the necessarytransfer of funds between the deferred payment system and the merchantand between and the user's credit or banking accounts and the deferredpayment system.

As used throughout this specification, the term “product” should beinterpreted to include tangible and intangible products, as well asservices.

One or more aspects of the invention may comprise a computer programthat embodies the functions described and illustrated herein, whereinthe computer program is implemented in a computer system that comprisesinstructions stored in a machine-readable medium and a processor thatexecutes the instructions. However, it should be apparent that therecould be many different ways of implementing the invention in computerprogramming, and the invention should not be construed as limited to anyone set of computer program instructions. Further, a skilled programmerwould be able to write such a computer program to implement anembodiment of the disclosed invention based on the appended flow chartsand associated description in the application text. Therefore,disclosure of a particular set of program code instructions is notconsidered necessary for an adequate understanding of how to make anduse the invention. Further, those skilled in the art will appreciatethat one or more aspects of the invention described herein may beperformed by hardware, software, or a combination thereof, as may beembodied in one or more computing systems. Moreover, any reference to anact being performed by a computer should not be construed as beingperformed by a single computer as more than one computer may perform theact. The inventive functionality of the invention will be explained inmore detail in the following description, read in conjunction with thefigures illustrating the program flow.

Turning now to the drawings, in which like numerals indicate like (butnot necessarily identical) elements throughout the figures, exemplaryembodiments are described in detail.

System Architecture

FIG. 1 is a block diagram depicting a product annotation system 100according to an exemplary embodiment. As depicted in FIG. 1, the system100 includes network devices 110, 125, and 130 that are configured tocommunicate with one another via one or more networks 120.

Each network 120 includes a wired or wireless telecommunication means bywhich network devices (including devices 110, 125, 130) can exchangedata. For example, each network 120 can include a local area network(“LAN”), a wide area network (“WAN”), an intranet, an Internet, a mobiletelephone network, or any combination thereof. Throughout the discussionof exemplary embodiments, it should be understood that the terms “data”and “information” are used interchangeably herein to refer to text,images, audio, video, or any other form of information that can exist ina computer-based environment.

Each network device 110, 125, 130 includes a device having acommunication module capable of transmitting and receiving data over thenetwork 120. For example, each network device 110, 125, 130 can includea server, desktop computer, laptop computer, tablet computer, smartphone, handheld computer, personal digital assistant (“PDA”), or anyother wired or wireless, processor-driven device. In the exemplaryembodiment depicted in FIG. 1, the network devices 110, 125, and 130 areoperated by end-users or consumers, online merchants, and a deferredpayment system operator, respectively. Although only a single end-usernetwork device 110 and online store network device 125 are depicted forconvenience in FIG. 1, multiple end-user network devices 110 and onlinestores 125 are contemplated by the invention.

The end user network devices 110 may each include an application module115. The application module 115 may be a browser application, such asMicrosoft Internet Explorer, Firefox, Netscape, Google Chrome, Safari,or another suitable application for interacting with web page filesmaintained by the deferred payment system 130, the online store networkdevice 125, and/or other network devices. The web page files can includetext, graphic, images, sound, video, and other multimedia or data filesthat can be transmitted via the network 120. For example, the web pagefiles can include one or more files in the Hypertext Markup Language(“HTML”). The browser application module 115 can receive web page filesfrom the deferred payment system 130 and the online store network device125 and can display web page files to end users operating the end usernetwork devices 110.

In certain exemplary embodiments, the deferred payment system 130comprises an instant purchase module 131, a deferred payment module 132,and a registered user index 133. In certain exemplary embodiments, theinstant purchase module 131 processes instant purchase, deferred paymentrequest from users. The instant purchase module 131 is in communicationwith the registered user index 133 and verifies that the user isregistered, that the user's account is approved for the instantpurchase, deferred payment option, and whether any purchase limits havebeen reached. The instant purchase module 131 completes a transactionwith the online store network device 125 on behalf of the user, therebyallowing the user to have instant access to the product of the onlinestore network device 125. Then, the deferred payment module 132 updatesthe user's account in the registered user index 133 and seeks futurepayment for the product. The deferred payment module 132 sends noticesto the user updating the user of an outstanding balance and generatesthe interfaces necessary for the user to check the account balance andto submit payment information.

The deferred payment system 130 is described in more detail hereinafterwith reference to the methods depicted in FIGS. 2-3.

System Process

FIG. 2 is a block flow diagram depicting a method 200 for processinginstant purchase, deferred payment requests. The method 200 is describedwith reference to the components illustrated in FIG. 1.

At block 210, the instant purchase module 131 receives a request from auser to utilize the instant purchase, deferred payment option to make anonline purchase. In an exemplary embodiment, the user may request theinstant purchase, deferred payment option by utilizing an instantpurchase, deferred payment option control displayed a web page generatedon an online store's web page at the time of purchase. For example, theuser may utilize browser application 115 on the end-user network device110 to access, via the network 120, the web page of the online storefrom the online store network device 125. The control on the onlinestore's web page is linked to the deferred payment system 130 such thatthe selection of the control is communicated to the instant purchasemodule 131.

At block 220, the instant purchase module 131 determines if the requestis from a registered user. The user's registration information, if any,can be transmitted to the instant purchase module 131 at the time of therequest. This information may be requested automatically at the time ofmaking the instant purchase, deferred payment request. For example,after selecting the instant purchase, deferred payment option using theinstant purchase, deferred payment option control, a prompt may bepresented requesting the user's registration information. The instantpurchase module 131 may prompt the user to login to the deferred paymentsystem 130 or otherwise to present the user's registration information.In this regard, the instant purchase module 131 may communicate theprompt directly to the user via the end-user network device 110 orindirectly to the user via the online store network device 125.Alternatively, the registration information may be retained in a clientside data structure, such as a cookie and automatically transmitted tothe deferred payments system 130 with each request. The instant purchasemodule 131 utilizes the user registration information to confirm thatthe user has an account with the deferred payment system 130 via crossreference to the registered user index 133.

If the instant purchase module 131 determines in block 220 thatregistration information is not received, the method 200 proceeds toblock 225. At block 225, the instant purchase module 131 notifies theuser and requests that the user either register to create an account orlog in with the user's existing registration information. Upon theuser's completion of block 225, the method 200 proceeds to block 230.

Referring back to block 220, if the instant purchase module 131determines in block 220 that the registration information has beenreceived, then the method 200 proceeds directly to block 230.

At block 230, the instant purchase module 131 uses the registrationinformation to determine if the user is approved to utilize the instantpurchase, deferred payment option by examining the user's accounthistory stored in the registered user index 133. In certain exemplaryembodiments, the method 200 may require the user account to have beenactive for a pre-defined period of time before the instant purchase,deferred payment option can be used. Where the method 200 is integratedwith other online services, the length of time the user has had anactive account with one or more of the other integrated online servicesmay be used to determine if approval to use the instant purchase featureis granted. In another exemplary embodiment, the method 200 may requirethat a certain number of purchases or a certain frequency of purchasesusing other standard payment options be achieved before the instantpurchase, deferred payment option is approved. In yet another exemplaryembodiment, the method 200 may utilize an honor score to determine if auser is approved for the deferred payment option. The honor scorereflects a trust level associated with a given user and determined basedon past deferred payment transaction history. Determining and updatingan honor score is discussed in further detail hereinafter with referenceto block 345 of FIG. 3. The deferred payment system 130 operator mayconfigure desired approval requirements for approving instant purchase,deferred payment transactions. Once the requisite approval criteria havebeen met, the user's account may be activated as pre-approved for futureinstant purchase, deferred payment requests.

If the user is not approved for an instant purchase with deferredpayment, the method 200 proceeds to block 235. At block 235, the instantpurchase module 131 notifies the user that the requested instantpurchase with deferred payment cannot be approved. The notification mayinclude a summary of why the purchase was not approved and what stepsthe user may take to fully qualify for the instant purchase, deferredpayment option.

Then, at block 240, the instant purchase module 131 offers the user theopportunity to select an alternative purchase option. One alternativeoption is for the user to complete the purchase directly with the onlinestore network device 125 pursuant to the online stores accepted methodsof payment. In certain exemplary embodiments, the instant purchasemodule 131 may communicate with the online store network device 125 toreceive confirmation of a completed purchase using an alternativepayment option. Another alternative method is for the user to completethe purchase via the deferred payment system 130 but by providingpayment at the time of purchase. For example, the instant purchasemodule 131 may invite the user in the notification of block 235 to enterthe user's credit card or other payment information. The instantpurchase module 131 may then communicate this information to the onlinestore network device for further processing and request notice of thecompleted purchase. The user's decision to pay with an alternate paymentoption is noted by the instant purchase module 131 in the user's accountrecord, as further described hereinafter with reference to block 260.

Referring back to block 230, if the user is approved for instantpurchase with deferred payment, the method 200 proceeds to block 245. Atblock 245, the instant purchase module 131 determines whether the useris authorized for additional instant purchases with deferred payment.For example, the instant purchase module 131 checks the user's existingaccount balance in the registered user index 133 to determine if thatbalance is below a pre-defined account balance limit. The accountbalance limit is configurable by the operator of the deferred paymentsystem 130. For example, the account balance limit may vary by user andcan depend on such criteria as the length of time the user's account hasbeen in use or the user's deferred payment history associated withprevious instant purchases. The account balance limit can prevent aparticular user from exposing the deferred payment system to excessiveliability for uncollected deferred payments.

If the user has exceeded the deferred payment limit, or the currenttransaction will cause the user to exceed the deferred payment limit,the method 200 proceeds to block 250. At block 250, the instant purchasemodule 131 notifies the user that payment of past purchases is duebefore further deferred payments can be approved, for example, bycommunicating a notice to the user's end-user network device 110 via thenetwork 120. The user is then directed to the deferred payment process,which is described in further detail hereinafter with reference to block270.

Referring back to block 245, if the user has not reached the deferredpayment purchase limit, the method 200 proceeds to block 255. At block255, the instant purchase module 131 notifies the user that the instantpurchase with deferred payment is approved, by communicating a notice tothe user's end-user network device 110 via the network 120 or bycommunicating a notice to the online store network device 125 forpresentation to the user. The instant purchase module 131 communicatesthis approval to the online store network device 125, and the onlinestore network device provides instant access to the purchased content.

In an exemplary embodiment, the online store operator and the deferredpayment system operator can agree how to complete payments for user'sthat qualify for the instant purchase, deferred payment option. Forexample, the deferred payment system 130 can accumulate multipleapproved purchases for a particular online store. Then, the deferredpayment system 130 can initiate a payment to an account of the onlinestore at a specified time period, such as after a certain number ofhours, once each day, once each week, or at another suitable timeperiod. Alternatively, or additionally, the deferred payment system 130can initiate a payment to an account of the online store when the valueof accumulated purchases reaches a predetermined threshold amount. Inany event, the online store network device 125 considers the productpurchased by the user when the deferred payment system provides theapproval notice to the online store network device 125.

At block 260, the instant purchase module 131 update the user's recordin the registered user index to indicate either the approved instantpurchase of block 255 or the alternative payment completed via block240. This information may then be utilized by the system whendetermining whether to approve future instant purchase requests from theuser and selecting the appropriate account balance limit. Additionally,the updated information includes the current account balance owed by theuser, which the user must pay as described hereinafter in block 270.

At block 265, the instant purchase module 131 communicates notificationto the user that the instant purchase with deferred payment is completedand that the user may access the purchased product. In certain exemplaryembodiments, the content may be provided directly to the userconcurrently with the notification. The notification also can includethe user's current balance and information for authorizing payment ofthe user's outstanding balance. In an exemplary embodiment, the instantpurchase module 131 can communicate the notification directly to theuser network device 110. Alternatively, or additionally, the instantpurchase module can communicate the notification to the online storenetwork device 125 for presentation to the user network device 110.

At block 270, the deferred payment module 132 processes a user's paymentoffline and after the approved instant purchases with deferred payment.Block 270 will be described in further detail hereinafter with referenceto FIG. 3.

FIG. 3 is a block flow diagram depicting a method for obtaining deferredpayment from a user according to an exemplary embodiment, as referencedin block 270 of FIG. 2. Thus, FIG. 3 describes the process 270 by whicha single transaction is used to obtain payment for one or multipletransactions processed through the instant purchase, deferred paymentoption of the deferred payment system 130.

At block 305, the deferred payment module 132 receives notice from theinstant purchase module 131 of an approved purchase for a user. deferredpayment module 132

At block 310, the deferred payment module 132 determines whetherexisting payment information is on file in the user's accountinformation stored in the registered user index 133. The user may submitapproved payment information and may pre-authorize any required paymentsto be processed with the approved payment information when payment isdue. Alternatively, the user may submit payment information, but requestthat the deferred payment module 132 request user authorization beforeproceeding to process the payment. The deferred payment module 132 maycommunicate this notification, when necessary, to the instant purchasemodule 131 for inclusion in the user notification described in FIG. 2 atblock 250. If payment information is available and the user hasauthorized payment, the method proceeds according to block 325 discussedin further detail hereinafter. Payment information may comprise anysuitable payment method provided by the user. For example, paymentinformation can be an authorization to charge a user's credit card, bankaccount, or other account to pay costs associated with the user'sinstant purchase, deferred payment transactions.

At block 315, if payment information is not associated with the user'srecord, the deferred payment module 132 sends a notification to the userrequesting payment information, by communicating the notification to theend-user network device 110. This notification can be in the form of anemail, a text message, a pop-up window, a notice within the browserapplication 115, or any other suitable method of notifying the user.

At block 320, the deferred payment module 132 determines if paymentinformation has been received from the user. For example, the user mayinput the payment information into the end-user network device 110,which then communicates the payment information to the deferred paymentsystem 130. If payment information has not been received by the deferredpayment system 130, the deferred payment module 132 will wait and maycontinue to notify the user of the need to provide payment informationthrough additional notifications as described above in reference toblock 315. When the deferred payment system 130 has received the paymentinformation, the method 270 proceeds to block 325. The paymentinformation is stored with the user's account record in the registereduser index 133.

At block 325, the deferred payment module 132 determines if the accountbalance limit associated with the user's account record will be exceededor reached by the current purchase. If the account limit will be reachedor exceed, the payment is processed as described in further detailhereinafter at block 335.

At block 330, if the account balance limit will not be reached orexceeded, the deferred payment module 132 determines if a pre-determinedtime limit on existing account balances has elapsed. For example, thedeferred payment system 130 may require all approved instant purchasesbe paid current within 1 day, 1 week, 1 month, 30 days, or otherconfigurable time period of purchase regardless of whether the existingaccount balance limit has been reached. If the pre-determined timeperiod has elapsed, the deferred payment module 132 processes thepayment as described in further detail hereinafter at block 335. If thepre-determined time period has not elapsed, the method 270 returns toblock 325 to wait for either the payment limit to be reached or exceededvia a subsequent transaction or for the predetermined time period toelapse.

At block 335, the deferred payment module 132 communicates a request forpayment authorization to the end-user network device 110 forpresentation to the user. In an exemplary embodiment, the deferredpayment module 132 may generate a user interface that allows a user tolog on and submit payment authorization at a dedicated URL. In certainexemplary embodiments, if the user has previously configured the user'saccount to process payments without further notice, block 335 may beomitted, and the method 270 may proceed directly to block 350. If theuser has not previously configured the user's account to processpayments automatically, the user will need to access the deferredpayment module 132 to authorize the payment. In certain other exemplaryembodiments, the user may authorize and enter alternate paymentinformation from that currently associated with the user account.

At block 340, the deferred payment module 132 determines whether paymentauthorization is received. For example, the deferred payment module 132may note the time when the payment authorization was communicated to theuser and leave the request open for a pre-defined period of time. Ifpayment authorization is received, the payment is processed as describedin further detail hereinafter with reference to blocks 350 to 360.

At block 345, if the payment has not been received, the deferred paymentmodule 132 may block or retrieve the item purchased using the deferredpayment option. In an exemplary embodiment, the deferred payment module131 can communicate a termination notification directly to the usernetwork device 110. Alternatively, or additionally, the deferred paymentmodule 132 can communicate the notification to the online store networkdevice 125 for communication to the user network device 110. In certainexemplary embodiments, the deferred payment module 132 may furtherupdate an honor score associated with the user record stored in theregistered user index 133. In certain exemplary embodiments, each userrecord can be associated with a default honor score. In certain otherexemplary embodiments, the honor score can be varied by user dependingon a trust level that can be determined for each user. For each instanceof failed payment, the deferred payment module 132 may reduce the honorscore by a pre-determined amount and update the user record to reflectthe honor score. The instant purchase module 131 may then access thisinformation when determining whether a user is approved for deferredpayment, such as at block 230 at FIG. 2 discussed above. If the honorscore is below a pre-defined threshold, the instant purchase module 131will not authorize future deferred payments.

At block 350, when a user has accessed the deferred payment module 132to pay the account balance, or when the criteria of one or more ofblocks 325, 330, and 340 have been met, the deferred payment module 132processes payment using the payment information provided by the user.

At block 355, the deferred payment module 132 updates the user's recordto note payment and to re-set the account balance and any applicabletime limits associated with the account.

At block 360, the deferred payment module 132 notifies the user thattheir payment has been successfully processed. The notification also mayinclude a notice indicating the user's new account balance.

General

The exemplary methods and blocks described in the embodiments presentedherein are illustrative, and, in alternative embodiments, certain blockscan be performed in a different order, in parallel with one another,omitted entirely, and/or combined between different exemplary methods,and/or certain additional blocks can be performed, without departingfrom the scope and spirit of the invention. Accordingly, suchalternative embodiments are included in the invention described herein.

The invention can be used with computer hardware and software thatperforms the methods and processing functions described above. As willbe appreciated by those having ordinary skill in the art, the systems,methods, and procedures described herein can be embodied in aprogrammable computer, computer executable software, or digitalcircuitry. The software can be stored on computer readable media. Forexample, computer readable media can include a floppy disk, RAM, ROM,hard disk, removable media, flash memory, memory stick, optical media,magneto-optical media, CD-ROM, etc. Digital circuitry can includeintegrated circuits, gate arrays, building block logic, fieldprogrammable gate arrays (“FPGA”), etc.

Although specific embodiments of the invention have been described abovein detail, the description is merely for purposes of illustration.Various modifications of, and equivalent blocks corresponding to, thedisclosed aspects of the exemplary embodiments, in addition to thosedescribed above, can be made by those having ordinary skill in the artwithout departing from the spirit and scope of the invention defined inthe following claims, the scope of which is to be accorded the broadestinterpretation so as to encompass such modifications and equivalentstructures.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computer-implemented method for authorizinginstant purchases without payment information, comprising: receiving, byone or more computing devices, a request for instant purchase of an itemby a user, wherein the request does not include or require paymentinformation to pay for the item, the item being purchased by the userfrom a provider; determining, by the one or more computing devices,whether the user is approved for instant purchase based on a prioraccount activity level associated with an account of the user;authorizing, by the one or more computing devices, the instant purchasein response to a determination that the user is approved for instantpurchase; communicating, by the one or more computing devices, theauthorization to the provider; obtaining, by the one or more computingdevices, deferred payment of the instant purchase from the user afterthe user receives the item from the provider.
 2. The method of claim 1,further comprising notifying, by the one or more computing devices, theuser of the approved instant purchase and providing access to contentassociated with the approved instant purchase.
 3. The method of claim 1,wherein the prior account activity level comprises a time limit of howlong the user's account has been open.
 4. The method of claim 1, whereinthe prior account activity level comprises a prior purchase criteria,wherein the prior purchase criteria defines a minimum number of priornon-instant purchases completed by the user.
 5. The method of claim 1,wherein the prior account activity level comprises a required activitylevel, wherein the required activity level defines a minimum frequencyof purchases.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the prior accountactivity level is based on an associated account activity level of oneor more integrated online services.
 7. The method of claim 6, whereinthe one or more integrated online services is at least one of anassociated email account, an associated cloud computing account, anassociated electronic wallet account, and an online social networkingaccount.
 8. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining deferred payment ofthe instant purchase comprises notifying the user of the account balanceand requesting payment after an account balance limit or time limit isreached.
 9. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining deferred payment ofthe instant purchase comprises requesting authorization to processpayment using payment information associated with the user's recordafter an account balance limit or time limit is reached.
 10. The methodof claim 1, wherein obtaining deferred payment of the instant purchasecomprises processing payment using pre-authorized payment informationassociated with the user's record after an account balance limit or timelimit is reached.
 11. The method of claim 1, wherein the item is atleast one of a ringtone, a music file, a video file, an online newspaperor magazine subscription, an electronic newspaper or magazine article,an electronic book, and a virtual good associated with a social networkor online gaming application.
 12. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising paying, by the computer, the provider for the item.
 13. Acomputer program product, comprising: a non-transitorycomputer-executable storage device having computer-readable programinstructions embodied thereon that when executed by a computer cause thecomputer to authorize instant purchases without payment information, thecomputer-executable program instructions comprising: computer-executableprogram code to receive a request for an instant purchase of an item bya user, wherein the request does not include or require paymentinformation to pay for the item, the item being purchased by the userfrom a provider; computer-executable program code to determine whetherto authorize the instant purchased based on a prior account activitylevel associated with an account of the user; computer-executableprogram code to authorize the instant purchase; computer-executableprogram code to communicate the authorization of the instant purchase tothe provider; computer-executable program code to update a record of theuser to include information regarding the approved purchase;computer-executable program code to obtain deferred payment of theinstant purchase from the user after the user receives the item from theprovider.
 14. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein theprior account activity level comprises a time limit of how long theuser's account has been open.
 15. The computer program product of claim13, wherein the prior account activity level comprises a prior purchasecriteria, wherein the prior purchase criteria defines a minimum numberof prior purchases completed by the user.
 16. The computer programproduct of claim 13, wherein the prior account activity level comprisesa required activity level, wherein the required activity level defines aminimum frequency of purchases.
 17. The computer program product ofclaim 13, wherein the prior account activity level is based on anassociated account prior account activity level.
 18. The computerprogram product of claim 17, wherein the associated account is at leastone of an associated email account, an associated cloud computingaccount, an associated electronic wallet account, and an associatedonline social networking account.
 19. The computer program product of13, wherein obtaining deferred payment of the instant purchase comprisesnotifying the user of the account balance and requesting paymentinformation after an account balance or time limit is reached.
 20. Thecomputer program product of 13, wherein obtaining deferred payment ofthe instant purchase comprises requesting authorization from the user toprocess payment using payment information associated with the user'saccount after an account balance limit or time limit is reached.
 21. Thecomputer program product of 13, wherein obtaining deferred payment ofthe instant purchase comprises processing payment using pre-authorizedpayment information associated with the user's record after an accountbalance limit or time limit is reached.
 22. A system to authorizeinstant purchases without payment information, comprising: a storagedevice; and a processor communicatively coupled to the storage device,wherein the processor executes application code instructions that arestored in the storage device to cause the system to; receive a requestfor instant purchase of an item by a user, wherein the request does notinclude payment information to pay for the item; determine whether toauthorize the instant purchase based on a prior account activity levelassociated with an account of the user; communicate an authorization ofthe instant purchase to a provider of the item; notify the user of theapproved instant purchase and providing access for the user to contentassociated with the approved instant purchase; and obtain deferredpayment of the instant purchase from the user after the user receivesthe item from the provider.
 23. The system of claim 22, wherein theprior account activity level comprises a time limit of how long theuser's account has been open.
 24. The system of claim 22, wherein theprior account activity level comprises a prior purchase criteria,wherein the prior purchase criteria defines a minimum number of priornon-instant purchased completed by the user.
 25. The system of claim 22,wherein the prior account activity level comprises a required activitylevel, wherein the required activity level defines a minimum frequencyof purchases.
 26. The system of claim 22, wherein the prior accountactivity level is based on an associated account activity level of oneor more integrated online services.
 27. They system of claim 26, whereinthe one or more integrated online services is at least one of anassociated email account, an associated cloud computing account,associated electronic wallet account, and an online social networkingaccount.
 28. The system of claim 22, wherein the processor furtherexecutes application code instructions that are stored in the storagedevice to cause the system to update a record of the user to includeinformation regarding the approved instant purchase.
 29. The system ofclaim 22, wherein the processor further executes application codeinstructions that are stored in the storage device to cause the systemto notify the user of the approved instant purchase and provide accessto content associated with the approved instant purchase.
 30. The systemof claim 22, wherein obtaining deferred payment of the instant purchasecomprises notifying the user of the account balance and requestingpayment information after an account balance or time limit is reached.31. The system of claim 22, obtaining deferred payment of the instantpurchase comprises requesting authorization from the user to processpayment using payment information associated with the user's accountafter an account balance limit or time limit is reached.
 32. The systemof claim 22, wherein obtaining deferred payment of the instant purchasecomprises processing payment using pre-authorized payment informationassociated with the user's record after an account balance limit or timelimit is reached.